The gallinipper is a

cryptid Cryptids are animals or other beings whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science. Cryptozoology, the study of cryptids, is a pseudoscience claiming that such beings may exist somewhere in the wild; it has been widely cri ...

in the African-American folk tradition. These creatures were said to be a species of giant

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es so big that their bones could fence a field. A popular telling of the legends has the creature get its bill out of a tree trunk, with the animal being large enough to clear 140 acres of land during the struggle. Gallinipper tales were appropriated as a feature of

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

s, but have also appeared in American blues songs such as "Mosquito Moan" by

Blind Lemon Jefferson Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular and successful blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Fat ...

aramount 12899 1929.

References

American legendary creatures Mythological insects {{Folklore-stub